POLA90 Lecture Week 1 Notes

POLA90 – Lecture Week 2 (first lecture) Notes
Definition of Corruption
- Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery (Oxford
English Dictionary)
- Generally thought of as resulting in the misuse of public office for private gain
Definition of Violence
- Behaviour involving physical force intending…
Why study?
- Increased interest in international issues
- The perception* that the scale of problems of corruption and violence are growing
- Perceived to have a catastrophic effect on ‘governance’ – an international buzzword for
effectiveness of the system
- Both perceived to have serious consequences for human development and growth
- * can reveal a lot about workings of social, economic, and especially political systems
- Corruption and violence are NOT causes but CONSEQUENCES of problems due to
social, economic and political levels (approach taken in this course) although you can go
both ways
Human development (socio-economic development) versus economic development
Costa Rica – good human development without strong economic power
Epiphenomenal.
Corruption
- Perception that the phenomenon is growing.
- Rising interest of major international institutions and leaders (UN, WB, G8, OECD etc.)
- Formulation of laws and conventions against corruption
- Establishment of several global anti-corruption civil society organizations
- Emergence of grass-roots anti-corruption campaigns (John Githonga* in Kenya, Anna
Hazare* in India, etc.)
Growing Scale of Corruption Problem?
Global Outlaws book by Carolyn Nordstrom argues:
- Global informal economy = $ trillions - 20% of worlds deposits in off-shore banks
- Money laundering = 2.5% of global GDP
- World Bank estimates that bribes = $1.5 trillion/year
th
UN Convention against corruption (10 anniversary)
th
December 9 is Anti-Corruption Day
The rise of global anti-corruption civil society organizations like:
Transparency International, Global Witness
www.ipaidabribe.com
Violence
- Similar ‘perceptions’ that violence is increasing in the world…
- Pinker writes of a “new pessimism” with respect to three manifestations of violence
- A. civil wars.
- B. genocide.
- C. Terrorism
- * These three phenomenon within polities that are in transition. Violence peaked when
colonialization ended. Transitions from one political system to another.
These countries had weaker institutions. Creating openings for a variety of alternate forms of
politics.
Examples:
Anti-Domestic Violence